


Disappointed

by orphan_account



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette, Angst, Bullying, Fights, Heartbreak, LadyNoir - Freeform, Lies, Lukanette, Manipulation, Marichat
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-24
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-09-25 18:54:36
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20376457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Adrien messed up. He should have never said that word. Now he might lose a friend forever, and for what? Now he has to make up for his mistakes in any way he can, whether he dethrone Lila himself or make an opening for Marinette to do so.





	1. Adrien's Mistake

**Author's Note:**

> This was meant to be a one shot, but then I wrote over a thousand words and wasn't done. I don't know how far I'm going to go with this, but I definitely have more to write in it.

“Marinette, I thought you were going to take the high road. I'm disappointed-”  
“_you_...”  
“What?”  
“You… Do _NOT_ get to be disappointed in _ME_. Just because _you’re_ content to watch our friends get hurt, just because _you’re_ content to let her go on for the sake of avoiding confrontation, doesn't mean _I_ am. You have NO RIGHT to be disappointed in me. Both of us knowing isn't enough and never will be. You know why? Because you're Adrien Agreste. She will never threaten you the way she does me, she will never do anything to publicly fall from your grace. You don't get to tell me to sit back and let someone destroy everything I've worked so hard for! You don't get to tell me to let her ruin my life! The only reason I stayed silent for this long is because I admired you. But now I see you're not all you're chalked up to be. You can sit back and not care, but don't lecture me when her lies are an akuma waiting to happen. I refuse to believe you haven't seen how many close calls there were, and if she continues to turn them against me, I won't be able to help prevent the akuma. Now I'd prefer if you'd leave me be.”

Adrien kept playing the conversation over in his head. Had he really missed how much Marinette was hurting? And then contributed to it? Now he had surely lost a friend, and one he treasured so dearly. He really was Adrien Agreste, a stuck up rich kid who didn't have a clue. As soon as night fell he would check on her as Chat. She always seemed more at ease around his superhero persona. To think, the first conversation without a glimpse of a stutter was her yelling at him because he was an idiot. And he was an idiot. Plagg agreed too, though that wasn't an uncommon occurrence. 

“Listen, kid, are you sure you want to meddle? You already made things worse once.”  
“I have to, Plagg. I have to fix my mistake.”  
“If you say so. Just don't try to tell her to take the high road again, or Paris might be down one cat.”  
“I'll keep that in mind.”

When Chat he noticed many white butterflies floating around the balcony and Marinette meditating in an outfit he had never seen before. She had long flowy pants and a loose shirt both presumably made of cotton and her hair was in a bun. Her face was clearly tear stained and he felt a pang of guilt. He had done that. 

“Princess?”  
Marinette responded without opening her eyes, “Hello, Chat. May I help you?”  
“Well, I was just patrolling and I noticed you out here, with all these butterflies?”  
“Since you've probably guessed it already, I suppose there's no harm in telling you. Yes, those were all akumas. Luckily Ladybug was around to purify them as they came. Now I'm meditating in an attempt to not summon any more.”

Chat didn't know what to say. He'd heard that tone around his house many times before, but never from Marinette. She sounded absolutely exhausted. Her voice was low, most likely due to the crying. 

“Akumas?” He asked weakly. He had a feeling in the back of his mind but he didn't want to believe all of those butterflies had come for Marinette. She had never been akumatized and at this point he honestly didn't think it was possible. But he had been the one support she had with the Lila situation, and he gave out, letting her fall. 

“May I ask what made you so upset?” Of course Adrien knew, but Chat didn't.  
“There's this girl at my school. She's a compulsive liar. She's threatened me more times than I can count. She's made it so no one will ever believe me and is starting to turn my friends against me. The one other person who knew, he-” Her voice cracked and she looked like she would cry again, but regained her composure before continuing. “He thinks we should let her get away with it. I just… can't. It goes against everything I stand for. And of course he never gets the same kind of backlash I do, because if he could completely ruin her reputation and she will do everything to avoid that. I could have let it happen, and she and I wouldn't have a problem, but while she loves her image sooo much, I'd rather stay true to myself. I'd rather have everyone hate me for me, than love me as someone I am not.”  
“... That's… That's really profound, Marinette. I wish I could have been there to back you up.”  
She sighed. “I suppose that would have been nice, but I don't think you'd have liked to see the way I was. I guess it just hurt so much more coming from him of all people. The only other person who knew, and the person I've looked up to for so long. The person I like. Well, I guess now it's liked, past tense.”

… Marinette… Marinette liked him? And he hurt her and betrayed her. 

“Should I give up on exposing her?”

Chat paused for a minute. She was asking him, trusting his advice. He knew now especially he couldn't tell her to stop. By the sound of her voice she would have if he told her to, but he just couldn't do it. It wasn't right, and even if it was, he wouldn't have been able to stand seeing the end result. He had lost her as Adrien Agreste, but he refused to lose her as Chat, too. 

“No,” he finally replied. “Don't give up. Don't change who you are for her, for him, or for anyone else. Don't think Ladybug and I don't notice the effort you put in for your friends. I know you are a good person, so you of all people should stand by what you believe in.”

Marinette finally opened her eyes to look at him and the look she gave him made him melt. He knew he had said the right thing this time. 

“Thanks, Chat,” she said, her voice wavering. “And don't worry, I don't think anymore akumas will be coming for me tonight.”

She finally had her signature smile and bubbly voice back and he was determined to never let her lose those again. Even if he could only ever see her as Chat, he would continue to check on her and make up for what he did, because a spirit as beautiful as Marinette's should never be tainted by pain. She reminded him so much of Ladybug. If he hadn't already decided she couldn't possibly be his lady, tonight he might have suspected it. 

They chatted a bit more before Marinette had to go to bed and Chat had to go back to being Adrien Agreste. He was not looking forward to school tomorrow. Even if she wanted nothing to do with him, he would do everything in his power to keep Lila away from her. He would obviously try to apologize, but he would understand if it was a long time before she forgave him. Her words had given him something to think about. Maybe he should stop letting things go just to avoid confrontation. Lila was hurting his friends and he knew it but had refused to acknowledge it. He would do whatever he could to fix it, but he knew he had a lot to make up for.


	2. Marinette's Side

Marinette almost didn’t go to school the next day, but there was a test. She rushed into class just as the bell rang. Mme. Bustier was running late because of a meeting with the principal, so it was her lucky day.

“Gee, Mari, are you sure you should be in school? You don’t look so good.”  
“Thanks, Alya. You always know just what to say.”  
“Aw, c’mon girl. You know what I meant.”

Marinette took her place next to Alya. She and Adrien avoided eye contact. She felt bad about the way things had gone down the day before. She stood by what she said, just maybe not how she said it. They had to talk eventually, but with how she was doing emotionally, if they talked now, the result would be the same. 

Nino looked back at Marinette and could tell something was up. Even when she was tired she would at least have some sort of smile on her face, but today she looked half dead. Alya looked just as worried as he felt. He noticed Adrien fidgeting.

“Do you know what’s up with Mari?”  
Adrien sighed. “It’s… complicated. I don’t think she wants me to talk about it.”  
“... Alright, dude, but if you did anything, you’d better be prepared for Alya’s wrath.”  
“If I ever do anything to hurt Mari, I deserve it.”  
“Ok…” Nino looked back one last time before Mme. Bustier walked in.

“Sorry, I’m late, class. My meeting ran late. Let’s get started with our morning exercises.”

The day seemed to take forever, and by the end of it Marinette was more than ready to go home. The others, including Alya, were all entranced by Lila’s story that could not physically be true, so she walked home alone. At the corner of the school she stopped when she heard someone calling her name.

“Kagami? What are you doing here?”  
“I heard your conversation with Adrien yesterday. I was waiting for him to go to our fencing match when I saw you two… um… talking.”  
“I know you’re probably worried about Adrien because of the way I talked to him, but I _am_ going to apologize. I’m just going to give it a couple days first.”  
“I’m honestly more worried about you. I’ve seen what Lila is like and I heard how she’s treating you. Just know, I’m on your side, and if you ever need anything, feel free to contact me.”  
“Oh… uh, thanks Kagami. I don’t know what to say. It’s good to know that not everyone will end up hating me.” 

Kagami nodded and walked away. Marinette continued home feeling somewhat better knowing someone was on her side. She had always thought Adrien was, too, so she wondered what changed. Were there values just fundamentally different? When she got home she rushed upstairs to avoid her parents seeing the state she was in. Her concealer had worn off throughout the day and she looked like more of a mess than usual.

“Tikki, what do I do?”  
“About what, Marinette? You have to be more specific.”  
“I don’t think I can be. Lila is slowly turning everyone against me and I can’t get anyone to understand where I’m coming from. They all think I’m jealous. Only Alya and Nino take pity on me and that’s not going to last much longer. At least Chloe doesn’t like Lila either, but she also doesn’t like me, so that’s not much help. Now I know I have Kagami on my side, but I’ve lost Adrien. I don’t know what to do!”  
“Shouldn’t your friends know you better than that? If this is really something you feel obligated to pursue, you should make sure they know you’re serious.”  
“You’re right, Tikki! But how do I get them to believe me? I can’t use Ladybug to tell them, that would be irresponsible, and this is Marinette’s problem, not Ladybug’s.”

She sighed. Why was this happening? She tried her best her whole life to be a good person. Had she messed up somewhere along the line? She knew she kept phrasing it as exposing Lila, but if she was given the opportunity to change Lila’s mind about lying, she would do it in a heartbeat.

“I suppose I had better start this project that Mme. Mendeleiv gave us since no one wanted to partner with me.”

Tikki could see the toll this all was taking on Marinette. Teenagers could be so cruel to each other. She was contemplating what to say next when she heard a knock on the skylight. She had to hide! Marinette looked confused and opened the hatch to find two green eyes staring back at her.

“Chat? What are you doing here? Isn’t it a little early for patrol?”  
“Well I had to see how my princess was doing after what happened yesterday.”  
“Thanks, Chat, but I’m a little busy.”  
“Really? What with?”  
“Well I have to do this project that’s really meant for two people to do, but no one wanted to partner with me, so I don’t really have enough time to do it as it is.”  
“What if I helped you?”  
“What? You would help me with my chemistry project?”  
“Sure. It’s one of my best subjects, right up there with calculus and myself.”  
“Oh. ha ha Kitty. And as for yesterday’s situation, things are looking up, at least a bit. A girl overheard me and is taking my side.”  
“You’re really committed to exposing that liar, huh.”  
“If I could find a way to get her to stop without doing that, I would, but I’ve already tried that, and all it did was make her hate me. I’m sure she’s just insecure, or scared to be herself, or maybe she just needs attention, but she’s hurting people, and that’s just not ok.”  
“Well, if you ever need back up, or someone to talk to, how about I give you my email?”  
“Really? Won’t that endanger your identity?”  
“Nope. This email is super secret and no one in my civilian life knows about it.”  
“If you’re sure, I guess.”  
“I am. So what does this project of yours look like?”


End file.
